App Spotlight: Google Buzz
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard all the “buzz” about Google’s latest announcement. Buzz is Google’s (late) entry into the oversaturated social networking game, predominately ruled by Twitter and Facebook. Buzz is built into Gmail, so once you’re logged into your account, you’re automatically connected to all of your contacts that you email/chat with. You’re then able to post and share your status updates either publicly or privately, check in to a location, and share photos and videos. Basically, Google wants you to think it’s streamlined what all the other social networks (you’re already using) do into one simple and familiar interface. However, I’m still not convinced.
It also alerts you in real-time, which, while nice, is a bit of an annoyance as it sends a Buzz alert to your inbox when a buzz you sent is responded to (this can be turned off by creating a filter that archives anything with label “buzz.” Instructions can be found here: Hide Buzz updates from your inbox.
Buzz can also be accessed via a mobile device if you’re an Android or iPhone user (Windows Mobile and Blackberry versions are on the way) by pointing your mobile browser to http://buzz.google.com. The web application is pretty slick, and may be its saving grace. I will also give Google some props, and say that I do enjoy the Buzz layer incorporated into Google Maps. This could be useful for a few things, like pointing individuals to a specific event that they may not have known about. It could also be helpful to alert those on the go to traffic or an accident, and help to plot out an alternative route to their destination.
As for this guy, I’ve already forgotten what the buzz was about, and won’t be migrating over unless some groundbreaking features are added in the future. What do you think? Will it be a success, or will people forget about it… much like we did with Wave? We’d love to hear your comments!
Related articles
- Blog – Google Buzz Aims to Tap Users’ Social Networks (technologyreview.com)
- Noah Mallin: Social Media: Is Google Buzz More Than Just Hype? (huffingtonpost.com)
- Google’s big announcement: Google Buzz is sharing, Gmail-style (downloadsquad.com)
